DETAILED ACTION
This is the first Office action on the merits of Application No. 18/609,847. Claims 1-20 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/19/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 7, 10, and 19, are objected to because of the following informalities:
in claims 7, 10, and 19, the ‘/’ symbol is used (e.g. ‘forward/rearward’) and should state the word “or” or otherwise that it is representing.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nishikawa (US Patent 6085854).
Regarding claim 1, Nishikawa discloses an electric vehicle structure (abstract) comprising: a vehicle body (Figs. 1 and 5); a battery pack (B) mounted at a lower side of the vehicle body; and a battery frame (Fig. 1, battery frame 1) interposed between the vehicle body and the battery pack (e.g. in Fig. 5, the body 15 is laterally outward of frame (e.g. 5) and inner of that is battery B) and configured to protect a front side, a rear side, and two opposite lateral sides of the battery pack (shown in Figs. 1-5).
Regarding claim 2, Nishikawa discloses the electric vehicle structure of claim 1, wherein the battery frame has a lattice structure defined by coupling a plurality of longitudinal members and a plurality of transverse members (shown in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 14, Nishikawa discloses a vehicle (abstract) comprising: a vehicle body (Figs. 1 and 5); a battery pack (B) mounted at a lower side of the vehicle body; and a battery frame (Fig. 1, battery frame 1) interposed between the vehicle body and the battery pack (e.g. in Fig. 5, the body 15 is laterally outward of frame (e.g. 5) and inner of that is batter B) and having a lattice structure defined by coupling a plurality of longitudinal members and a plurality of transverse members (shown in Fig. 3), wherein two opposite ends of the transverse members protrude further outward based on the vehicle body than the battery pack (shown in Figs. 3 and 5), and wherein the longitudinal members of the battery frame are positioned outward of the battery pack based on the vehicle body and connect the transverse members (shown in Fig. 3).
Claims 14 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Borghi (US Patent Publication 20220169126).
Regarding claim 14, Borghi discloses a vehicle comprising: a vehicle body (Fig. 1); a battery pack (114) mounted at a lower side of the vehicle body; and a battery frame (106) interposed between the vehicle body and the battery pack and having a lattice structure defined by coupling a plurality of longitudinal members and a plurality of transverse members (shown in Figs. 3), wherein two opposite ends of the transverse members protrude further outward based on the vehicle body than the battery pack (Fig. 3), and wherein the longitudinal members of the battery frame are positioned outward of the battery pack (e.g. Fig. 17b) based on the vehicle body and connect the transverse members (shown in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 17, Borghi discloses the vehicle of claim 14, further comprising a plurality of through pipes disposed in the transverse members (Figs. 6-8).
Regarding claim 18, Borghi discloses the vehicle of claim 14, further comprising: a leaf spring-type suspension system disposed at a rear side of the vehicle body (paragraph [0040]); and a rear extension part disposed at a rear side of the battery frame and extending to a front end of a leaf spring mounting bracket (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 19, Borghi discloses the vehicle of claim 18, wherein the rear extension part is disposed at a rear side of a longitudinal member of the plurality of longitudinal members of the battery frame and elongated in a forward/rearward direction so as to define a straight line together with the longitudinal member (Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 20, Borghi discloses the vehicle of claim 14, further comprising a front extension part disposed at a front side of the battery frame and protruding forward, wherein the front extension part is configured to support a rear side of a sub-frame of the vehicle body disposed at a front side of the vehicle (Fig. 3).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-13 are allowed.
Claims 3-9 and 15-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Reasons for allowance, if applicable, will be the subject of a separate communication to the Applicant or patent owner, pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.104 and MPEP § 1302.14.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hara (US Patent Publication 20180370344) discloses a battery mounting structure for a vehicle with sill (9).
Hara (US Patent Publication 20170305251) discloses a battery mounting structure for a vehicle.
Kosuge (US Patent Publication 20200070641) discloses a battery support structure with lattice (Fig. 1).
Tatsuwaki (US Patent Publication 20220161855) discloses a battery pack with through pipes (Fig. 9) and side impact (Fig. 11).
Yaita (US Patent Publication 20220258585) discloses a vehicle body structure with side sills and impact (Fig. 7).
Ayukawa (US Patent Publication 20180148099) discloses a vehicle body lower portion structure.
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/LORI WU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3655